Abstract We report on a 20 ks XMM observation of the distant
cluster , discovered at
z=0.6 in the SHARC survey. The cluster
has a regular spherical morphology, suggesting it is in a relaxed
state. The combined fit of the EPIC/MOS&pn camera gives a cluster
mean temperature of
with an iron abundance of
. The temperature profile, measured for the first time
at such a redshift, is consistent with an isothermal atmosphere up to
half the virial radius. The surface brightness profile, measured
nearly up to the virial radius, is well fitted by a , with
and a core radius of
. We compared the properties of
with the properties of nearby clusters for two cosmological
models: an Einstein-de Sitter Universe and a flat low density Universe
with
. For both models, the scaled emission measure
profile beyond the core, the gas mass fraction and luminosity are consistent
with the expectations of the self-similar model of cluster formation,
although a slightly better agreement is obtained for a low density
Universe. There is no evidence of a central cooling flow, in spite of
the apparent relaxed state of the cluster. This is consistent with
its estimated cooling time, larger than the age of the Universe at the
cluster redshift. The entropy profile shows a flat core with a
central entropy of
, remarkably similar to
the entropy floor observed in nearby clusters, and a rising profile
beyond typically
0.1 virial radius. Implications of our results, in
terms of non-gravitational physics in cluster formation, are
discussed.